Live Alive: Raven's Story
by gamer4
Summary: It all started as a normal mission, but ended by plunging one half-demon into her own living hell... Part of the Live Alive mini-series.


Gamer4 in. Welcome, my friends, to another installment of the _Live Alive _mini-series. I would give my usual explanation here, but the thing is, this is one of only two instances where I would recommend reading the other stories in the mini-series first. Did that make sense? Okay, explanation it is. For the past week, I've been writing a mini-series, marked by stories beginning with _Live Alive_, consisting of seven different stories across different time, and set in different fandoms. This will be the eighth. While each story is written so you can read them in any order, or pick and choose ones that you'd like to read, if you so choose, this story is where I would begin to recommend having at least a familiarity with the rest of the mini-series before reading. You don't have to, of course, and you'll still be able to understand this one pretty well, but this is where everything starts to come together. Today, stepping up to the _Live Alive _plate is Teen Titans, one of my favorite shows from my childhood, which still holds a large place in my heart today. Let's begin.

Disclaimer: I don't own either Teen Titans or _Live A Live..._ or possibly _Live A eviL, _the Squaresoft game that inspired this mini-series to begin with. And, if it wasn't obvious, I did not write a single film in the James Bond franchise, let alone the film this story is named for.

Live Alive

Raven's Story

Skyfall

They say that everything that has a beginning has an end. By the same token, in that case, everything that has an end has a beginning as well. And, on occasion, they coincide, as the end of one thing is the start of another. So was it the case with the heroes of Jump City who called themselves the Teen Titans. This is the story of their final mission, and the beginning of something much greater.

XXXX

Raven jerked awake to the sound of alarms blaring through the tower that she and her friends called home. "Trouble?" she muttered to herself, jumping out of her bed, donning her beloved blue robe and rushing through the door.

As always, the Titans met up in their living room for the usual pre-mission briefing. Six teens stood around the room- a young man with spiky black hair and dressed in bright red and green clothing that had, on more than one occasion, been compared to a traffic light, a young woman with orange skin and dressed in armor, a large African-American, more than half of whose body consisted of machinery, a boy with green skin and hair of deeper green, and a young woman with long, blond hair and blue eyes looked up as Raven joined them.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's the Hive," the spiky-haired boy, Robin, explained, a serious look taking his face. "They're hitting up the bank again."

"You'd think these guys would learn eventually," Terra, the blond girl, shook her head.

"Hey, they want to volunteer to be my workout for the day, I'm not going to knock 'em," Cyborg shrugged. "Or... well, actually, I am."

"Let's get going," Robin commanded, and, as one, the Titans moved out.

XXXX

It didn't take long for the group of heroes to arrive at the bank where, sure enough, the small group of supervillains was gleefully filling all the bags they could with money.

"Keeping the record alive, huh?" Robin called out, making their presence known.

"Titans!" called out Jinx, the pink-haired sorceress who seemed to be leading the group.

"Go!" Robin finished the battle cry, and the Titans sprang into action.

Robin drew out his trademark bo staff and leapt into combat against Mammoth, the Hive's heavy man. Cyborg raised his arm, converting it into a sonic cannon, and began blasting away at a Gizmo. Starfire leapt into the air and began throwing starbolts at Seemore, while Terra slipped her goggles onto her face and joined Beastboy in fighting off Billy Numerous, leaving Jinx to Raven.

Raven began by chanting her usual mantra- "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A beam of dark energy came to her hands and fired itself at Jinx, who blocked with dark energy of her own. The two sorceresses began trying to force the other into backing down. For a while, they stood at a deadlock, until Raven finally managed to triumph, blasting Jinx across the room, where she hit the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious, leaving Raven to turn to the other fights going on.

Starfire was effortlessly dealing with Seemore, Terra and Beastboy had long left Billy Numerous in the dust, Gizmo was on the ground, muttering his usual stream of obscenities, and Robin was standing on top of the mountain that was Mammoth, looking triumphant.

"Victory!" Starfire called out in joy.

Sirens began to wail in the street as Robin stepped down. "That sounds like the police. I guess we've done all we can do here. Come on, let's go get some pizza."

"Oh, yeah, pizza!" Beastboy cheered as he began to lead them out of the building.

Robin was on the point of following when he turned and noticed that Raven had yet to move from her spot. "Something wrong?" he asked, approaching.

"Not exactly..." Raven muttered. "You guys go on ahead. I'll meet you back at the tower."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked, stepping closer. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"It's nothing!" Raven repeated. "It's just... there are some things... I need to think about."

Robin watched with a raised eyebrow as the blue-haired sorceress took to the sky, flying her way back to the tower.

XXXX

Raven touched down on the tower's roof, and took a look around. Normally, she'd prefer her room, but the night was particularly beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky to block out the stars shining down on Jump City- _her _city, the one she fought so hard alongside her friends to protect. They reflected off a remarkably calm ocean, and, with everyone else out getting pizza, it was nice and peaceful. Slowly, she got into her lotus position, levitating a foot or two off the ground, and began to chant. "Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos. Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos..."

It wasn't as though she'd been telling a lie to Robin, she thought. There was nothing that she could definitively point to as being 'wrong' with her. It was just a feeling...

She'd begun to have nightmares lately. Visions of landscapes alien to her crossed her mind, from large forests to small towns to large cities, castles, and even, at one point, a location that resembled a spaceship from the average sci-fi movie. In all these places, visions came to her of people- people she didn't know, but who seemed to know her. In every case, they looked upon her with nothing short of hatred in their eyes, as though they desired nothing more than to eliminate her from existence...

She shook her head and tried to get more into her meditation. "Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos..."

It was a long while later that she heard a door shut, and turned, breaking out of her thoughts and meditation, to see the young green changeling approaching her.

"Hey, Rae," he said, smiling.

"Raven, not Rae," Raven replied reflexively.

"Raven, Raven," Beastboy acknowledged, raising his hands in surrender. "Where were you tonight?"

"Just... meditating," Raven muttered. She could hardly explain it to herself without trying to explain it to Beastboy of all people.

"Meditating, huh?" Beastboy asked, eyes glistening with humor. "Trying to find the meaning of life, the Universe, and everything? I can tell you that right now- it's 42."

"I'm trying to keep my emotions under control," Raven corrected. "I think I told you before that my powers are driven by emotion- this helps me keep everything under control."

"And you couldn't take some time off, even to grab some pizza?" Beastboy asked. "Harsh."

"There's a little more to it than that," Raven muttered, shaking her head. "It's... I've just been having some bad dreams lately."

"Hate it when that happens," Beastboy nodded. "Just remember- we're all here for you, alright? You don't have to be alone."

"I know that," Raven agreed quietly. "I know..."

Abruptly, their conversation was interrupted by a crash behind them. Looking, they saw an army of strange men in uniform armor and masks marching onto the roof. "What the-" Beastboy gasped, immediately turning into a raptor and leaping forward, going on the offensive. Raven jumped up and began summoning her usual black magic, defending and occasionally using it to go on the attack.

She managed to slam some of her energy into them so hard that the mask flew off, revealing a robotic face underneath. "Beastboy- they're robots!" she called out to her companion. Beastboy changed again, turning into a large, green whale and crushing a large portion of the robots beneath him. Raven turned and began attacking with renewed vigor. But there was something wrong about this... she couldn't help the nagging feeling at the edge of her mind... there was only one person who'd constructed robots like these...

The battle on the rooftop continued to rage on, with both Beastboy and Raven struggling to make it to the door that would take them into the tower itself. Raven only stopped when she was, momentarily, distracted by a shout- "Raven- a little help over here?" She turned and saw Beastboy being overwhelmed by a large number of the robots. As she watched, one of them lashed out and managed to strike Beastboy in just the right place to cause him to pass out. It then lifted the green changeling over its shoulder in a fireman's carry and ran off, leaping over the side of the tower.

"Beastboy!" Raven cried, making a motion to follow, but being held back by still more of those accursed robots. She turned, and furiously began to tear them apart with everything she had, but even with her best efforts, by the time she'd finally managed to fight them all off, she could no longer see the one who'd taken Beastboy. "Beastboy..." she muttered, a hand outstretched slightly.

XXXX

Raven wasted no time in running downstairs, where she found the other Titans gathering in the living room, looking disgruntled. "What the heck was that?!" Cyborg growled. "How'd they get in? Who even _sent _them?!"

"I don't think we need to think too hard about that," Terra noted grimly. "How many villains are there in this city who could set up an attack with that particular type of robot?"

Starfire gasped, hand reaching up to cover her mouth. "Friend... you do not mean..."

"Slade," Robin muttered, eyes darkening behind his mask.

Everyone froze as the name of their most formidable opponent washed over them. "But... that should not be. Is Slade not..." Starfire hesitated to speak the actual word.

"And buried... or at least, he should be," Robin muttered.

"That guy's _way _too resilient for my tastes," Terra muttered, looking like she was trying to swallow something extremely bitter. There wasn't a person present who didn't have a bad history with the only man who could have organized this attack, but Robin and Terra had probably the worst of all.

Looking around, Starfire was the first to comment on the lack-of elephant in the room. "Friend Raven..." she said slowly, "Where is friend Beastboy?"

Everyone turned and noticed for the first time that the green boy was, indeed, absent. Raven opened and closed her mouth a couple times before finally enunciating, "He... he got taken. They captured him."

Starfire gasped again. "Friends! We must make haste! Who knows what horrible things they are doing to him, even now?!"

"Star's right," Terra agreed. "Let's get moving, right now."

"Agreed," Robin nodded, standing up from the table where he'd been sitting. Abruptly, he stumbled, and had to lean on the table for a moment for support. "Robin- are you alright, man?" Cyborg said quickly, moving forward.

"Fine... just fine," Robin said, waving Cyborg aside. "Slade's more important right now. Did Beastboy have his communicator on him?"

"I'm not sure," Raven muttered, shaking her head. "But... I think so."

"Good," Robin affirmed. "Assuming he did, and assuming those people don't find it on him, we can use it to track down wherever they took him."

A moment later, he'd brought up the Titans' computer on their screen. For a while, he was busy at work on the keyboard, until finally, a map of the city appeared, with a red dot flashing on it, marking the building where, luck permitting, Beastboy was even at this moment.

"Alright," Robin nodded, standing and gritting his teeth as he almost fell over again. "Let's move out."

XXXX

The building indicated by their radar was an old, decrepit thing by the docks- really, it looked like it was barely hanging on, as though it could topple over at any time.

"I'm not sure about this," Terra remarked, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "This place doesn't exactly look sound..."

Raven would never admit it, but she had reservations of her own about entering this building. She couldn't help but remember the last time they'd rushed into a building they'd thought contained Slade- it had definitely not turned out well for them.

"We don't have any choice," Robin muttered darkly. "Titans, Go!"

At his shout, they entered the building, looking around for any sign of their friend. The main sources of light were Starfire holding a starbolt up, and Cyborg with the flashlight built into his shoulder. Perhaps this is why, then, it is Cyborg that was the first to locate something.

"Hey, guys, I found it!" he called out, gathering everyone to him. They all glanced at what he had in his hand- a yellow circle marked with the sign of the Titans- the large T- and blinking gently as the computer back home reached out to locate it.

Everyone glanced at each other. "Robin..." Raven said slowly, ready to point out the obvious.

"I know," he muttered.

"He's not here."

"I _know_."

"Which means..."

Everyone turned- the building was still empty. Slowly, they walked to one of the doors, where they saw a veritable army of those robots marching towards the building.

"It's a trap," Robin finished Raven's earlier thought. "Titans, GO!"

The group launched into action, fighting back against the oncoming onslaught with everything they had. Starbolts, dark energy, birdarangs, sonic cannon, flying rocks- anything and everything. However, they were vastly outnumbered, and began to find themselves being pressed back into the building, where the robots changed their tactics to separating the teens. As much as they fought to stay together, they found themselves forced apart by wave after wave of hostile, clinking metal.

Raven fought, as ever, with everything she had, firing off walls of her trademark dark energy, utilizing it as both a shield and a weapon. She was doing well, but for every robot that they she struck down, ten more appeared to take its place.

Suddenly, there was a loud cry, and the entire space of the building was flooded with a blindingly bright light. Raven, despite barely keeping up with the offending robots as was, was forced to close her eyes and draw her cloak over them in order to stop herself from going blind.

When she finally regained the ability to see in the renewed darkness of the building, her heart leapt up into her throat. The robots all seemed to have been demolished, but at a terrible cost- Robin was laying on the floor of the building, bleeding profusely from a wound in his chest. Raven wasted no time in rushing over. "What happened?" she asked desperately.

"Robin stumbled," Starfire cried, holding the boy wonder's head in her hands. "Just like earlier, he stumbled, almost falling, and... one of the robots, it..."

Cyborg stepped forward, looking grim. "I saw it, too- one of them got him, swiped him across the chest. And then, I think that light was Starfire throwing one heck of a big starbolt..."

"I needed to get to him- to protect him," Starfire sobbed, clutching desperately to their leaders head. "Robin... please say you are okay!"

"Not the best I've ever felt..." Robin muttered, looking down at the blood flowing from his chest.

Starfire was in tears, reaching down and grasping at the blood. "Friends, help me- we have to put it back!" Looking more and more desperate every second, she scooped at the blood and tried to return it to Robin's chest. "Help me! It has to go back, or he will-"

Cyborg gently placed a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "Star..."

"Why are you not helping?!"

"Star..." Robin grunted... "there's nothing you can do."

"I WILL NOT ACCEPT THAT!" the alien cried in distress. "I... I cannot..."

Raven could understand her friend's tears- she felt the same way, deep down, but she couldn't let herself act on it- if she did, things would go badly...

"Starfire..." Robin spoke, grabbing her hand in his. "Promise me you'll stay strong, alright? This city still needs protecting- we have to keep fighting, as long as one person still believes in us... find Beastboy, alright? Then find Slade- I guess you'll have to take him down without me."

And, as they watched, their leader slowly went limp.

"N...n...NOOOOOO!" This scream came, not from Starfire, but from Terra. The ground of the building suddenly began heaving like the deck of an old sailing ship.

"Terra!" Cyborg called out, turning to see Terra, hands on head, eyes turning yellow, along with the edges of her hands. She was losing control, just as she had before her long efforts to seize control of her powers. At her accidental whims, the ground continued heaving, harder and harder, and the foundation of the already-not-particularly-sturdy building was beginning to come down.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" Raven called, summoning a portal and beginning to push the others through it, one after another. She turned to Terra, and began trying to make her way forward, but Terra seemed to have completely lost control- the dirt was being kicked up into a twister, causing further harm to the old building, and with the blond geomancer inside it. Raven struggled to break through, but, no matter how hard she tried, simply couldn't.

Frustrated, Raven looked around. The building was coming down around her- she needed to save Terra soon. She made one last desperate lunge forward, struggling to get through the twister, but had to jump back as a large part of the roof came down on top of it, throwing Raven back. Looking back, she saw the twister begin to die- which could only mean one thing- she was too late. Throwing back one last mournful look, she turned to her portal and followed the others into it.

XXXX

The sun was beginning to rise as the three remaining titans met in their living room. It seemed an eternity ago that they'd first set out in their attempt to rescue Beastboy. Each one of them bore a similar look of shock on their face. The deaths of two of their comrades, so close together, seemed somehow unreal. For several hours, they simply sat there, staring at the sun rising over the shoreline. The city already knew about what had happened- the morning newspaper would contain an article about the fallen titans, including their obituaries. And still, they were no closer to locating the one who'd gone missing in the first place.

Raven was the one to finally break the silence. "Let... let's go out and patrol."

The other two turned to stare at her, their eyes almost completely empty of emotion. Raven shook her head. "It- it's what they would have wanted- they would want us to find Beastboy- bring him back, and keep helping people. Remember what Robin said- as long as there's one person who believes in us, we can't give up."

Slowly, Cyborg and Starfire both nodded. They rose up, and headed out into the city.

XXXX

Raven didn't know what drove her to do it, but the first place she went to was the ruins of the building. The police had come down on it, considering it a crime scene, wrapping it with tape and everything, but, as one of the Titans, they allowed her through. She stood over the area where, not long ago, she and her friends had fought so hard to defend themselves... and failed. For the first time, they'd definitively lost.

As she bent over, she breathed in a large amount of dust, causing her to cough. Shaking her head, she stood up, turning to leave. There was nothing for her here...

She turned, and nearly had a heart attack. In the distance, walking towards her, was the visage of a person she knew only too well- the man who'd tormented her and her friends so many times, and who was responsible for everything that had happened so far. Walking calmly and steadily over the building's wreckage was Slade Wilson.

Raven's brain, unusually for her, went into full panic mode, skipping over her usual logical thought processes that would cause her to question how the man knew she was there, or how he could be there without the police coming down on the most notorious criminal in the city. She was going directly into a 'fight or flight' reaction- and she chose to fight. She didn't waste any time- she brandished her hand at a nearby metal pipe that had, at one point, been part of the building. Speaking rapidly, she chanted her mantra: "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" The pipe was covered by her black energy and hurtled straight at Slade, piercing him through the chest with enough strength to knock him to the ground.

Raven tilted her head, her logical thought process finally catching up with the rest of her. That was odd... wouldn't he have normally put up more of a fight? Slade had _never _gone down that easily before. Moving slowly, she approached the person she'd struck down, examined their face- and felt her stomach disappear.

"Wh- what? N-n... no!" she gasped out. For it was not Slade Wilson that lay there, with a pipe through his chest and bleeding out on the ground- it was Starfire.

"F...friend... why?" Starfire stammered out, sadness and confusion in her eyes.

"No!" Raven cried, bending over and trying to handle the wound. "Starfire- how- what-"

"Stand away from her!" came a nearby shout, and Raven looked up to see one of the police officers approaching her, firearm out and ready to shoot.

"No- wait, it's not like that!" Raven shouted, raising her hands in surrender.

"Stand away!"

"She needs help!" Raven called back. "Get someone in here to help her, won't you? If you don't, she'll-"

The officer fired a warning shot, causing Raven to leap back. Starfire gave a cry as a jolt of pain coursed through her, causing Raven to try and move forward again, only for a second warning shot to drive her backwards again.

"Get her help!" Raven cried.

The officer was speaking into a radio, calling for backup. Raven looked back at Starfire, only to see that her friend had fallen back, going limp.

For a moment, she glanced back up at the officer, and past him, to where other police officers were beginning to take notice and advance on her. It was the last thing Raven wanted to do, but she didn't have much choice as she summoned another portal for herself and, in another second, was gone.

XXXX

Raven reappeared in the city, and, for a long while, simply stood there, frozen, uncomprehending, with no idea what to do next. She couldn't even begin to understand what was happening here...

So pre-occupied was she with her thoughts that she failed to notice even as a patrol car cruised by. The police inside caught sight of her, and immediately brought the car to a stop, leaping out and aiming their weapons at her. "Freeze!" they called, finally bringing her to attention.

Raven's head snapped up as she finally noticed them. Slowly, she raised her hands- they might be against her, but she refused to hurt any innocent people if she could help it. "What is it?"

"Are you Raven Roth?" one of the officers called out, slowly approaching.

"Yeah, that's me."

"You're wanted for the deaths of Starfire, Robin, and Terra!"

"What?!" Raven asked, confusion entering her face. She knew about Starfire, but the others?

"What the- Raven?" came a voice from around the corner of the nearest building. Raven and the police both turned to see Cyborg approaching. "What's going on?"

"This is a police matter," one of the officers explained quickly. "This woman is wanted for the deaths of your comrades."

"Raven? A suspect?" Cyborg repeated, confusion in his good eye. "What are you-"

"Not just a suspect- we have officers on sight that witnessed her killing Starfire," one of the officer explained. "This makes it likely that she killed your other comrades, as well."

"Of course she didn't, I was right there, those two were killed by-"

"Wait," the other officer spoke, holding up a hand and addressing his fellow policeman. "Don't you think that an inside job like that would have been a little difficult for just one person?"

"Yeah... you know, you're right," the original policeman agreed. "In that case... we're going to have to bring you in, too."

"Oh, come on, now," Cyborg objected, raising his hands nonetheless. "Do you _really _think-"

"Are you going to come quietly, or are we going to have to use force?" the officer asked, raising his firearm.

Raven cast her eyes around, looking for a way out of this situation. Nothing came to mind. Finally, the two simply raised their hands and entered the patrol car.

XXXX

That night found Raven and Cyborg being kept in special cells designed to hold them despite their powers. The news of Starfire's death seemed to have spread quickly, and by the end of the day, there was hardly a person in Jump City unconvinced that Raven and Cyborg had orchestrated the deaths of their own comrades.

Cyborg was taking it particularly hard. "This is _insane_!" he growled as he stalked around his cell. "We would never-"

"I did," Raven admitted, sitting complacently in her cell. She was frozen in shock, at the deaths of her comrades, at being blamed for them, and, worst of all, knowing that in one case, it was really _true..._

"You... you did what?" Cyborg asked, doing a double take.

"I... I killed Starfire," Raven confessed, hands reaching up to grasp her head. "I was examining that building from last night, when I saw somebody that looked like Slade- I sent a pipe into his chest, but when I got close enough, I realized it was... it was her!"

Cyborg's jaw dropped as he listened to her anecdote. Finally, he stuttered out, "W-was there anything going on, when you did that?"

"Just... just coughing from a lot of dust," Raven shook her head.

"Dust?" Cyborg repeated. "You were breathing in dust just before you had this... vision, or whatever?"

"Yeah, that's what I-" Raven started, before a memory suddenly came back to her, and she understood what Cyborg was getting at. "You mean... just like then...?"

The two of them exchanged an uncomfortable look, remembering the time that Robin had been exposed to a hallucinogenic dust that had caused him to see Slade in places that he wasn't, causing him to nearly fight his own friends to the death.

"But... if that's the case," Cyborg mused, "then... this wasn't just an accident. Someone _planned _for this... someone wanted us to take the fall for everyone's deaths..."

"And that person... is still out there," Raven finished his thought.

Cyborg turned to the outside of the cell. "We've got to get out of here."

"Is that even possible?"

"Are you kidding? I helped _design _these cells- I know how they work. We just need for the power to cut out..."

As Raven watched, he de-attached one of his mechanical hands and allowed it to walk out of the cell alone. She didn't know exactly what he was doing, but a moment later, the room went dark and their cell doors swung open.

"Alright, we don't have long until the backup generators kick in," Cyborg said quickly, "so let's get out of here."

Raven stood and followed Cyborg as they sprinted down the police station's many halls, rushing as fast as they could.

They were outside when things started to go south. A group of police officers appeared, blocking their way out, firearms out and prepared to shoot. Cyborg gave a war cry, charging forward and knocking them aside like bowling pins- and, as soon as he did, collapsing to the ground.

Raven ran up behind him- the police had opened fire, and the bullets had torn his body, mechanical and biological parts alike, apart. "Cyborg, don't quit on me now!" she said. "Come on, you've got to see Beastboy again!"

"This... I think this is the end for me," Cyborg shook his head, looking at his irreparably damaged circuits. "Raven... you have to find Beastboy, alright? Find him, find whoever's doing this, clear your name, and then... don't give up on this city, alright? I know things look bad now, but remember what Robin said- as long as there's one person- we have to fight, as long as one person still believes in us..."

The various lights around Cyborg's body shut down, and his good eye closed as he slumped to the ground. Raven backed up, horrified, only to hear more policemen rushing out. She turned and ran as hard as she could.

She only stopped running when she was just about as far from the police station as she could get, whereupon she collapsed onto a curb, panting desperately to catch her breath.

"Hey!" came a nearby voice, drawing her attention. "You're Raven, right?"

Raven looked up to see a small boy looking down at her, eyes wide with wonder.

"Yeah... that... that's who I am."

"You're with the Teen Titans, right? I heard all sorts of bad things about you, but none of them are true, are they? You'd never hurt your friends, would you?"

Abruptly, both Raven and the boy heard a gasp nearby, and looked to see a woman who looked like the boy's mother running over. "Don't talk to her!" she cried. "Don't talk to her- she's a demon! She'll kill you as soon as look at you!"

"But she's not!" the boy cried, looking up with tears forming in his eyes. "She would never-"

Deaf to the boy's objections, the woman grabbed him and pulled him away, firing a glance at Raven of mixed fear and rage. Raven slumped against the wall of a nearby building, feeling the hatred of the woman washing over her. Her, a demon? It was true, of course, but she'd spent her entire life fighting _not _to become what her father had desired...

She had to find Beastboy. She didn't know how, but finding Beastboy would fix it. At the very least, Beastboy was the one person that she knew would never give up on her- the one person who would always believe in her.

Raven leaned back, forcing herself, once more, into her lotus position and beginning to chant. "Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos... Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos..."

She could feel the auras of everyone in the city pressing in on her. She struggled through a sea of them, bustling around, no doubt believing even at this moment that she was the reason her friends were all dead- the reason she was alone. She shook these thoughts from her head, struggling to focus- there was one aura she needed to locate.

"Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos... _Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos..._ AZARATH... METRION... ZINTHOS!"

And finally, with one last burst, she could sense the location of her missing friend. She stood and immediately took off.

XXXX

Moments later, Raven found herself gazing up at yet another old, abandoned building. She gazed up at it, feeling suddenly reluctant to enter. After everything that had happened, she was very skeptical about entering the building...

She chanted her mantra one more time, just to make sure. Sure enough, Beastboy was in there. And... he was alongside another aura. There was only one person it could be- the person who'd started this all in the first place.

Raven made her way into the building and began to climb, searching for either of the people she had come to find.

*WHAM!*

Raven found herself running headlong into a large stone that seemed to have moved across the hall specifically to block her. She fell to the ground, then pulled herself up almost immediately, rubbing her head. And then... she saw her.

"Ah, Raven," she said. "Long time, no see- or that's what it seems like, at least."

"T...Terra!" Raven gasped.

"About time," Terra shook her head. "I was wondering if you'd turn up at all, as a matter of fact."

"H- how?" Raven stammered, her control over her emotions slipping. "Y- you're supposed to be dead!"

"Maybe so- but, as you can see, I'm still alive and kicking. More than I can say for all the other Titans, it looks like."

"Y- d... Did _you_-"

"Well, what do you think?" Terra asked, tilting her head. "That all those events just... happened?"

"Wh- wh..."

"I've been building up _quite _a bit of resentment towards you and the others," Terra shook her head. "Always trying to hold everyone back, keep us from using the full extent of our powers. When I needed help, what did you do? Scoffed, refused to trust me, and told me that the first step to controlling myself is to just lock away anything I ever felt? To eventually get to the point when I just looked like you- an empty shell that puts on a good show of existing? I'm sorry, but that's not the kind of life I want. But if I were to turn my back on you, what would you do? Suddenly, I'd be a villain- suddenly, I'm the one that you need to bring in, to subjugate.

"Beastboy was the only one who really helped me- when I was with him, he encouraged me to be who I was- he accepted me for everything, instead of always telling me to shut myself away. So, when I was coming up with the idea for this little... experiment... he was the one I wanted to save."

"But... everyone else could die, for all you care?" Raven asked, rage building up in her chest.

"Hey, _I'm _not the one who killed them all," Terra pointed out. "Everyone else's death... did I really kill any one of them? I didn't lay a finger on them- I had nothing to do with it! Now, _you_, on the other hand-"

"You don't get to talk to me," Raven growled, the anger continuing to build up, further and further, closer and closer to the breaking point. "After all that you've done... to everyone... all the suffering we went through..."

"You brought it all on yourself!" Terra shouted, anger evident in her eyes. "If you really wanted to help people, like you're always saying, then there's plenty you could have done, but instead, all you do is sit up in your tower, lording it over everyone else- does it feel good? Knowing that you could do whatever you wanted and never have anyone tell you otherwise?! Knowing that you can get anyone arrested, thrown in jail, become the villain just because _you _said so? Well, I'm ending it- this all ends-"

Raven's anger burst. Things around the building began to fly around as Raven charged directly at Terra, who, caught by surprise, failed to put up any sort of defense before half the things in the room slammed down on her.

Abruptly, Raven gave a gasp, breathing deeply, slowly returning to herself. Below her was the battered, bruised, and dying body of Terra. Shaking her head, she moved closer, grabbing her and holding her close. "Alright, where's Beastboy, you little-"

"TERRA! NOOOOOOO!" came a cry from her left, and Raven turned, shocked, to see Beastboy sprinting across the room towards her. She almost involuntarily released Terra and backed off, allowing Beastboy to grab the young woman and cradle her head in his arms. "No, Terra, don't die! You- you're all I have left!"

Raven felt the words pierce her like knives. Terra gasped, struggling to force out words, but was unable to before slumping over, dead.

Beastboy shook as he turned to face Raven. "Why?" he choked out. "Why... why did you do this?"

"Beastboy," Raven said, raising her hands, "it's not like-"

"Of course it is!" Beastboy cried, turning on her. "I heard the news! Terra told me everything- you killed them! You killed Cyborg, and Robin, and Starfire, and you almost killed her! Are you here to kill me, too?"

"Beastboy-" Raven repeated, trying to calm him.

"Well, I won't let you! I won't give you the satisfaction you want!" Tears freely flowed from Beastboy's eyes as he turned his back on Raven and began sprinting away. Raven followed in hot pursuit.

The chase ended on the rooftop. "Beastboy, think about what you're doing!" Raven called out. "Stop!"

Beastboy approached the edge of the building, looking back at her as he stepped up onto the ledge. "Terra... I'm coming," he whispered before leaping off.

"NOOOOOO!" Raven cried, lurching forward, but failing to come close enough before there was a sickening splatting sound from the ground below.

Raven gazed down at the ground in horror. Down below her lay the lifeless body of the last person she'd been certain would believe her. Desperately, she searched for his aura- but instead of finding his, she felt the hatred that the entire city had come to feel for her. She could almost hear their voices-

"That witch, she turned on all her friends, killed them one by one!"

"We should have known, really, she was never going to be anything good."

"She was born a demon, she'll become a demon when she's old enough, and when she dies, she'll be a demon then, too."

Raven stumbled backwards, trying to force the thoughts out. She collapsed to the ground, raising her arms over her head as everything that had happened ate away at her like a poison. "No... I didn't... I'm not a demon..."

And, finally, something in her broke. "No... that's not right..." she muttered, rising to her feet. "I _am _a demon. I... I am the daughter of Trigon, the source of all darkness."

Still stumbling slightly, she made her way to the ledge, where people were beginning to gather. One by one, they let out a cry as they spied her at the top of the building. Reinforcing their belief, no doubt, that she had killed Beastboy. Well... let them believe that. If they truly wished to think of her that way, then let them.

Quietly, the words of Cyborg and Robin gnawed at the back of her mind- "As long as one person still believes in us..."

She shook her head. Nobody believed in her. Not anymore. And if they wanted to think of her as the source of darkness, a demon that had killed her own friends so that she could more easily destroy the whole city...

Well, she didn't intend to betray their expectations.

_XXXX_

And on _that _monumental downer that caused me physical injury to write, we end this chapter of the Live Alive saga. With this, there is only one story left to write- and, this is where I appeal to you, the readers, for help. As some of you may have noticed, I finally changed the poll on my profile after 5 years. The last chapter, as you may have suspected, will be a mass crossover of all the stories in the series so far, and, as such, I turn to the readers to decide which of the various protagonists will take the main character slot in the finale! Feel free to vote in the poll, or to leave me your thoughts in a review or a PM. Of course, regardless of how the vote goes, everybody will get their time in the sun, it's just that the winner will get a little more focus on them. Also, the last story will _not _just be a one-chapter affair, as everything up to this point has- I'm not sure how long it will go on for, but there will be multiple chapters to account for the various characters and the over-arching plot. I'll hold off on getting started on the final story until people have had a chance to vote, so it probably won't be up tomorrow. And, in the event that nobody votes at all, (I haven't really checked yet,) then I'll go ahead and play it by ear.

Anyways, I think I've broken the tension of this story enough, so I'll go ahead and jump to the outro. Please R&amp;R, constructive criticism embraced, as I continue my efforts to improve my writing as much as possible, flames not so much, Gamer4 out.


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